Twenty-five security forces have been killed in fighting in northwest Pakistan after about 200 militants crossed over from Afghanistan and attacked a security checkpost, a government official said on Thursday.Skirmishes had been going on for 24 hours in a village in Dir region, Ghulam Mohammad Khan, a top local government official, said by telephone.
"We are preparing to evacuate 25 bodies from the village," he said, referring to police and paramilitary forces killed in the fighting that spread to a forest. Khan said he had no figures on militant casualties.
Dir police official Dawar Ali said army troops had arrived in the area to support security forces. He said more details on the battles were hard to come by because communications had broken down in the area.
The militants had arrived in a pre-dawn operation on Wednesday dressed in military uniforms and killed one policeman.
It's not clear which militants had taken on security forces in Dir, but groups along the frontier are closely linked.
Gunship helicopters were sent to the spot to carry out heavy bombardment to repulse the attack, and fresh reinforcements of security forces, including army, police and levies, rushed to the spot.
According to Xinhua sources in Dir, skirmishes are still going on in the area and local people of the affected area have been evacuated to safer places.
Meanwhile, two schools and one bridge were reportedly blown up by unknown militants in the same district. It is not known whether these attacks are coordinated actions or not.
